Thursday, 9 August 2007

Another example of why people think Kiwis are thick

To Australians, Kiwis are like a kid brother. Aussies are allowed to make fun of them and beat them up but if someone else has a go then we come running to their defence.

We all know that Kiwis have a well deserved reputation for being a little bit...how can I put this gently? Well, a nation of intellectual butter knives. A few slices short of a loaf. A few sheep missing in the top paddock. You get the gist.

A New Zealand couple is looking to call their newborn son Superman — but only because their chosen name of 4Real has been rejected by the government registry.

You're joking?

Pat and Sheena Wheaton say they will get around the decision by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages by officially naming their son Superman but referring to him as 4Real, the New Zealand Herald newspaper has reported.

Why not name the kid Michael and refer to him as 4Real?

The Wheatons decided on the name after seeing the baby for the first time in an ultrasound scan and realising their baby was "for real".

Then name him Foreal!

They decided 4Real was the best way to write it, but the name was rejected because the registrar said a name had to be a sequence of characters.

Ah. Apparently SMS is an official language in New Zealand.

Pat Wheaton said he was considering appealing against the decision through the courts, but whatever happens he won't be budged on his choice.

"No matter what its going to stay 4Real," Wheaton told the Herald, "I'm certainly not a quitter".

One of the only talents he has, surely?

A spokesman for the Department of Internal Affairs, which operates the registry told the Herald discussions with the Wheatons about their son's name were continuing.

The baby is now two months old, after the Wheatons first applied to register his name in later June.

A few years ago Channel 9 in Australia screened a show, IQ Test Australia, which allowed viewers to test their IQ. There were live participants split up into different groups of between 15 and 20 including, from memory, Blondes, Teachers and New Zealanders etc. I've forgotten the other categories. Truckies might have been in there, too.

At the end of the show the average IQ of each group was read out with teachers winning and the Blondes doing quite well. The average IQ of the Kiwis was not read out, which led one to think that our cousins from across the water might not have fared too well. However, the number of questions the Kiwis answered correctly was read out, which allowed me to calculate their average IQ at an embarrassing 92. Clearly, they sent the creme de la creme to represent their nation; that seems 8-10 points higher than I would have expected from them.